


Ahots (Voice)

by princesagili



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: Bad Jokes, Canon Autistic Character, F/F, Fluff, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 07:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15944378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princesagili/pseuds/princesagili
Summary: This is for the investigation, she tries to tell herself. Not because of how much she likes Shelly, or how much she hates bras.





	Ahots (Voice)

She is beautiful in a way that Courtney cannot understand, and it’s going to drive her mad.

Courtney looks at the water tank, her mind dwelling on her investigation, and how the subject makes her feel. Because how she makes Courtney feel is definitely not related to constipation, as she has empirically proved. Tabitha hadn’t liked her observations about the matter.

And god, she looks even more beautiful when she’s underwater.

One of Courtney’s bosses, Archie, found her in the middle of a field trip, researching the tides and how they related to the flora and fauna in that area. They had all expected him to find seashells, not an injured mermaid with the most beautiful eyes Courtney has ever seen.

Mermaids do not exist, Courtney reminded herself for hours, even after having living proof in front of her, contradicting her common sense with a naturality that drove her insane.

Matt, another coworker of hers, and Tabitha’s boyfriend, made some tea for her, and she drank it after her beloved boss, Maxie, had not so gently advised her to trust Matt about this. Matt is Archie’s best friend, after all, and Maxie being Archie’s husband kind of makes him blindly trust Matt, too. She wishes she had those perks too, sometimes, but he has never been truly good at connecting with people, unlike big, sweet Matt.

In the end, she had to accept that, yes, they had a living mermaid in their laboratory, and that taking care of her health was their top priority.

The poor creature was unconscious for a day after Archie had brought her in. She then reacted… the way anyone in a water tank would have reacted, really.

Her voice was beautiful as she skillfully sang, desperation in her voice, her tone making Courtney’s coworkers cry empathetically. Weren’t sirens and mermaids different? Since when could mermaids sing like that?

Unluckily for the mermaid, Courtney is just terrible at recognizing and relating to emotions if they are not addressed specifically, and not just with the tone of their voice.

She looked at the crying mermaid, confused and wanting to understand. She touched the glass, very softly, and the creature stopped singing, shocked. The rest of her colleagues were too shaken to work anymore that day, so she had taken care of the mermaid for the rest of the day. Keeping her hydrated, tending to her wounds. Asking her about herself, even if she was pretty sure that the mermaid couldn’t understand her.

The mermaid was able to understand something, though.

“What’s your name?” Courtney had asked, not really expecting an answer.

“Shelly.”

Her voice sounded soft as silk, and Courtney blushed very visibly.

“I’m Courtney.”

The mermaid smiled at her with newfound complicity, and had repeated her name, like a treasure inside of her beautiful mouth.

The memory is enough to make Courtney tremble a little. Not a virus, she reminds herself. She is not sick. She is not a danger for their guest, who is probably not used to things like influenza. They will have to check that, too.

Shelly smiles at her as she gets closer, muttering something that Courtney can barely understand. Shelly learns quickly, and has started to be able to say and ask for simple things. She asks for music when Matt is around, and cheers at Archie’s happy expression.

With Courtney, it’s always the same word.

“Stay.”

And she does.

She tries not to look anywhere that is not near Shelly’s face, or occasionally her tail. Of course, mermaids don’t have societal norms about being topless (and honestly, she’s envious), but that doesn’t mean that she’s immune to social pressure. Shelly has gills, that make her able to breathe underwater, but she can breathe air too. And given how much her chest swells, Courtney would say that she has lungs, too. Big lungs, actually. Very big lungs.

Shelly’s injuries are still visible, even if it has been two weeks already since Archie rescued her. Nobody is allowed to speak about her outside of the lab, knowing what others would do to the mermaid if they knew about her. The plan is, waiting until she feels alright, ask her if she’s willing to share some knowledge with them, and then let her go. Scientific progress should never be detrimental towards living beings, as Courtney’s bosses remind her often.

“Come here!” Shelly says, pointing at herself, and Courtney screams internally.

“I can’t breathe underwater.” she mutters, just in case Shelly hadn’t realised. You take a lot of things for granted when they’re usual for you, after all. Like having legs. Or wearing bras.

“Up.” Shelly insists, reminding her that she can indeed breathe air if her head is not underwater.

And so, Courtney has the zillionth moral dilemma of the week. She’s a scientist, a researcher. She cannot just ditch her responsibilities to dive into a tank because of a cute girl. She technically can, but shouldn’t. She thinks about Maxie’s disappointed face, and her whole body tenses in a second. But Shelly looks so nice, so fond of her, so unwilling to drown her…

She makes up her mind. If she’s going to die, either drowned or out of embarrassment, she is going to do it braless, and next to a cute mermaid. She will appear in textbooks. The thought almost makes her smile. Almost.

“Fuck this.” she says, her voice monotonous but infinitely tired, and takes off her lab coat, her shirt, her shoes, and her bra. It feels like petty revenge against what’s expected of hr, but she is far too gone to care. She uses the stairs, and Shelly is waiting for her when she arrives to the top of the tank, a sweet smile on her beautiful face, her arms reaching out to Courtney, who feels as if she were having a short-circuit.

This is for the investigation, she tries to tell herself. Not because of how much she likes Shelly, or how much she hates bras.

And inside of the water she goes.

Shelly’s skin is surprisingly warm for someone who lives in the water. She smells like salt, Courtney realises, but she doesn’t exactly hate the smell. She is strong, like anyone living in such a dangerous environment should be. Courtney is definitely blushing, but doesn’t say anything. She cannot make herself feel more ridiculous.

Warm arms embrace her, blue eyes on her own purple ones, looking at her with fondness.

“Courtney…”

Her name sounds like a song when Shelly pronounces it, and she knows for a fact that it’s her own feelings who make it look that way, not any kind of emotional magic that would be useless against her anyways.

She feels something akin to belonging, to understanding. As if something finally clicking inside of her. She embraces Shelly, too, and allows herself to feel a little.

The next day, she doesn’t tell anyone about what happened, or about her very obvious crush. Shelly looks at her, and giggles.

“Fuck.” the mermaid says, and Courtney’s soul leaves her body as four pairs of eyes are suddenly on her.


End file.
